New Orleaus Slams Pitt

THE actor’s hard work to fix Hurricane Katrina’s mess is falling apart.

WALKING around New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward neighbourhood, people are still angry at the impact of Hurricane Katrina, nearly 13 years on. But now they’re pointing their finger at Hollywood actor Brad Pitt and his charity Make It Right.

After the levees of the city’s industrial canal were breeched, the Lower Ninth Ward of mainly black low-income families was decimated by the floods, with most houses swept away or left in ruins. Among the first to lend a helping hand was Pitt, who owned a house in New Orleans, and set up Make It Right to help regenerate the area.

Families who’d lost everything were encouraged to return to the area and buy affordable housing, built by Make It Right. The houses were like nothing the community had seen before, with architect competitions having been run to generate cutting-edge designs. People praised Pitt for his actions and for the first few years it made a difference, even if the cost of the project ran hugely over budget. Make It Right said they’d spent $25-million (equivalent to over R350-million today) by 2015, but another housing NGO claims it’s four times that amount. Locals say they used to see the Hollywood star walking around, with the organisation’s office being in the centre of the Lower Ninth. Now Pitt hasn’t been seen in years and the last Make It Right home was built in 2016, the promise to construct 150 new homes – as stated on its out-of-date website – seemingly given up on with just over 100 houses having been completed.